Shadow Queen (2 page)

“He asked me to marry him,” I said into the phone finally telling her myself and not through rumors.  She knew of course.

Kassie squealed, “I can’t believe it.  We just knew you’d marry an old hag from the shipyards or something.”

“Yeah, about that.  I was intended to marry Cord Ryan.”

Kassie stammered out, “The...the Cord Ryan.  Dark hair with the white halo, never should wear a shirt, known as Scorpion for it stings so many, now leader of the supposed horrible Were faction Cord Ryan.”  She giggled between qualities listed.

She made him out to be worse than he was.  “Yes, that Cord Ryan.  He isn’t quite that bad, though he is very arrogant.”

“YOU KNOW HIM?”

Oops!  That would start something I was sure would turn to a worse rumor than I wanted to fix.  “Um, yeah.  He’s somehow besties with Calum and Cas and Szar.”  How did she know of my engagement and not that we were all the five Marked Ones.  Everyone else knew.
              “Girl, I’m so leaving this place and coming with you.  I can’t continue living off your fantasy life.  I’ve got to be there.”

“Kassie, that’s ridiculous.  You can’t defend yourself.”  I needed an out.  “How about you come to visit me here at my court.”

I’d said it without much regard for what I made it sound like. 

“
You’re
court?  Are you already in his room and warming his bed at night?”

“
Kassie.
  Not!  And mind your own business anyway.  Where is the naughty court girl and her two guards that she kept stringing along before I left?”

She giggled.

“That’s what I thought.  Take your own advice.”

“Well, then at least tell me when the wedding is?”

“July.”

“July?  That’s only...a little over two months away.  Why so fast?”

“Why not?”

“You really aren’t warming his bed, are you?” her voice said conspiratorially. 

“Um, not that it’s any of your business, but no.  I was telling the truth earlier.  He wants to be all virtuous and such.”  I rolled my eyes into the phone. 

“Oh, girl.  Please say he has a brother?” she breathed heavily into her cell. 

“Nope!”

“Dang!” she snapped back. 

“Okay.  Well, as your best friend, what should I do first?”

“Be my maid of honor?”

She squealed loud enough I had to hold the phone away.  We talked about plans, plans, and more plans.  She was coming to stay with me next weekend to “plan” and that would mean days without Cas.  I frowned into the phone as I hung up.  I sat on the sofa cross-legged and stared at the picture of the sun above me.  I was torn between what was more important.  I hated to think that I could say that about my best friend, but priorities change.

I didn’t even know he’d come into the room when I heard, “You can put your worries to rest.  Your friend will have a room and I will have you at night.”

Brightened by his broad smile, I pulled him down to where I was on the sofa.  We didn’t leave there for the rest of the morning.

Cas stopped us again when our making out got a little out of hand.  He went to the kitchen and came back drenched.  I laughed so hard at his blatant will power that I fell off the sofa. 

“Nice to know I’m entertaining you,” his voice was drenched with the same sarcasm. 
Kissa, you are in such a hurry to make me a villain.

I soured at that.  My face showed all kinds of mad.  As much as I wanted to be even angrier, I loved him too much to get that mad.  I think that’s another way to know you’re in love.  No matter what they do that irks you, you just seem to think about not having them at all and it sends pangs of fear worse than the present anger.  It overrides the hurt with pain.  Living without him wasn’t an option.

I don’t mean it the way you took it.  I mean that I have that one thing to hold over us and I aim to keep us honest.

Pff! 
You and your holds.  I am so tired of holds.

He laughed at me rubbing his five-o’clock shadow and sending more shivers up my spine. 

I got up to escape the warm feelings inside and went to the kitchen knowing he would follow.  I looked through the fridge for the longest time though I wasn’t the least bit hungry.  And he probably knew this anyway. 

My hold isn’t strong at all around you.  I’ve proven that unfortunately. 

Seems to me you have superb will power, Mr. Prude.

“That’s not fair.  And you should be more careful with your virtue.  It’s not something I think should be given lightly.”  Feigning solid anger was getting harder with him.

I realized then that he saw it as a gift.  He wasn’t trying to first and foremost protect it, he was trying to savor it too.  Wow! 

“Okay,” I turned to him, “you’re right.”

A slight hint of amusement centered around his mouth.  “Glad you finally noticed.”  He turned my embarrassment around on him.  He always did that to make me feel better.  I loved that about him. 

I told Cas the whole truth later that night.  About my mother’s visit and how she insinuated that Calum dies, but does not.  Everything about Lee that I knew and ever thought about him.  And also, I asked him some questions about his dreams.  It was scary what the gods could do.

I learned more about the mandrake blood he experimented with.  It didn’t stay in his body, but a small bag of it stayed with him.  He tried to scare me with a story of how he’d given a guy too much and he hasn’t woken yet.  When I asked where he is, the only clue he gave was that the humans see that his body is unharmed.  I started the conversation about his dreams, but they evolved into his nightmares.

I asked about the rings instead.  They seem important, but really they seem more worrisome than helpful.  Yes, they glow.  Yes, it guards my thoughts, but I don’t want them guarded. Anymore. 

He alluded to not knowing like always.  Finally he told me he agrees that they are important and doesn’t know what that could be but it has to be big for us all five to have it.  He thought at first it was just a physical sign that we need each other to finish the task, but decided they might just save us somehow in the end.  The end of what I asked?  He didn’t say.

Back at the Hunter school, I heard some of the same history my own ears found growing up.  It was said that humans were made from the earth and that were so created to inhabit it.  With it came all manner of other creatures including our own when the gods mixed up the races.  Gods are a restless bunch.  They have destroyed as many creatures as they have created.  The Fey race died out long ago, as well as several other factions that used to be among us.  The Valkyries were sent down from the legends of women in the sky.  Known for their beauty and power, they commanded men with ease.  All of that evened out later, but some of us still carried the traits. 

Hunters descended from the humans alone.  The power comes from the instilled ability to train daily and always be ready for battle.  Their bodies are larger than most, but their training is more than most.

The Weres were a accident.  The creature of the earth to protect themselves at a time when larger creatures were killing off the humans. Different forms of humans branched off with injections of animal genes to supersize themselves against the food chain.  It went awry for awhile, but evened out.  In the eyes of the humans, it was treated like it never happened.  The same thing happened with Lioners.  They were extinct within the year of their creation.  Scientists have been messing with humans for far too long.  Kind of like the gods.

And the Vampires.  Well, they were predators descended from the Egyptians who held various rituals within their own people.  They wanted to be and truly were an invincible group of humans. 

With any group, rogues branch away.  It takes others within their own groups and across the board to control the masses.  That is where we are at today.

The rain held out for three days straight.  When we trekked through the woods past the warehouse and on to the space we’d cleared to practice on earth's founded floor, I stared at the water that had gathered on the ground into large pools.  The drizzle was coming down around us making soft patterns on the watery paths with little sound.

              I followed the trail we’d made in silence not able to hear the other’s footsteps because of the ironically silent rain.  I knew they were there though.  The wind and their scent still mixed with the air.  When one of my senses were weakened by physical hindrances of the earth, another would step up to the plate.

              Spidery lines ran around the ground in moving rivulets under my feet.  I stopped once to see how far my boot sank into the ground.  It had rained a while now.

              Winter would be here soon.  I would turn nineteen before long. 

              I’ve known Cas for a year.  The time moved like a freight train hauling time sensitive cargo.  It was delicate and needed to be guarded closely.  I learned from my mother I would look as she did.  I wouldn’t age.  Immortality wasn’t the issue, time itself was.  The humans around us couldn’t see us much longer than five to ten more years.   Fortunately, we weren’t around many humans.

              But if the present condition of the factions wasn’t solved and if I wasn’t on the lookout for possible assassins at every corner, maybe things could be different.  Maybe one day. Maybe soon.

              Cas and I walked the grounds tonight looking at the moon, the stars, the earth covered with rose bushes.  We talked about what we both wanted in the future that may or may not exist but neither of us would say anything to refute it. Sometimes what we want isn't what we should act on.  He was unhappy about the wedding date saying it was too long a wait.  All present dangers aside, it was nice to watch him simply be a man. An
eager
man.

              He grinned at me giving me feelings that I don’t always want to hide.  Just like that, I’m his again.  Over and over. 

              He picked a rose and presented it to me.  It was yellow with little red edges around the top.  Very pretty.  I took it from his fingers and wouldn’t you know it, I pricked my finger.

              “Ouch!”

              “Let me see,” he asked in the darkness of the night.  Before I knew it, he was putting the finger to his lips.  And froze.

              His eyes flicked open.  They were glowing bright with an edging of red around the rims.  Like the rose.   It couldn't have been what I saw, but it was a funny thought.

              “Stace, I need to step away.”

              He did.  And he never told me why.

              So I updated my list tonight. 
The Cassius Rathorth Cross list. 

1.
 
(And most pertinent to mention) drinks blood for nourishment

2.
 
eats human food for enjoyment

3.
 
has sharper than average canine teeth, but not razor sharp or anything (just perfectly straight and chiseled)

4.
 
can fly (soooo love that skill)

5.
 
can read my mind( but no one else...hmmm) ( and acquired a five mile radius)

6.
 
can read my all of my emotions (born Valkyrie-not sure if this is because of me or not)

7.
 
Very, VERY strong Vampire strong  (I’m stronger)

8.
 
can enter my dreams

9.
 
buys me clothes (Oh, this is skillful, trust me)

10.
            
(I didn’t know about the erasing thoughts part)

11.
            
  vast knowledge of possible herbs and other things that make others do his will 

12.
            
super sensitive sense of smell

            
 
It was the last one added that led me to the text I just received from Cord,               who held the same ability.  It was Cord's sense of smell that found my father at a different abandoned Were camp, alone with a note written in blood on his bare back, exhausted and hungry, but alive.   They'd cut up every section of his body and left him for dead.  They wanted us to find him, but alive wasn't necessarily part of it we guessed.  The message:

                           
Shadow Queen Beware

              My father turned the court over to my brother despite his health returning in a matter of days.  Our court medicines were renowned for their great treatments.  He said the time had come.  My father told us all in a group meeting once that he saw the future and knows the outcomes.  His tired eyes revealed his demons were still in the constant battle of watching it play out.  I would just have to trust him on this too.